Too Late
by Dark Lady of R
Summary: ONESHOT. Ron realises the consequences of being too late.


_Disclaimer: Anything you may recognise, I don't own._**

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**Too late**

"Well done Harry. The hero always gets the girl," I joke as I pat my best friend of too many years to remember on the back. After too many years of trauma and pain, he had finally settled down. He had been to hell and back, seen too many deaths, lost too many friends, yet he had won. He had won the Last Battle but he had also won the prize that I'd realised way past the closing date I wanted to win.

"Thanks Ron. I'm sure you and Luna will be happy together," he answers before turning his back on me. He has other guests. I may be his best friend but this is his wedding. I spot Luna talking to Ginny in the corner. My little sister has grown so much. She's already had her first child with Dean Thomas. I never thought it would last that long. You can really see motherhood has taken a toll on her. Although she looks tired and frail, her bright hair, which I too possess, and her bright smile make up for that. The red dress she is wearing isn't too bright but not too light. It suits her perfectly.

I never thought Luna and myself would last that long either but there she is dressed in a blue dress that match her eyes perfectly, blonde hair cascading down her back in small curls and the hand holding her glass of champagne sporting an engagement ring. The engagement ring _I_ gave her. I take a sip the champagne I'm holding. I'm the best man but I don't feel like getting drunk. Plus, it's not like I can get off with the Maid of Honour. She's my sister.

I move around, unable to settle in one conversation too long. I find my eyes wandering to the blushing bride. She really is blushing as her father asks Severus whether he has ever considered whitening his teeth. I feel sorry for him. Over the past few years, I've got to know him pretty well. In a war, you can't ignore someone because they're different. Hermione looks like one of those brides in the wedding magazines. Stunning white dress to go with the stunning bride.

She's changed so much since I first met her, sometimes I can't believe it's her, but when she starts to talk, you know its Hermione. Her brown hair is no longer bushy but wavy, almost straight, her chocolate brown eyes get prettier every time I see them and that smile just dazzles me. Luna's smile is beautiful, but it doesn't make my heart skip or beat faster.

After a while, the celebration all gets a bit too much for me. I may be the best man, but I don't feel like celebrating. For what? For losing the girl I have always loved to my best friend? I can't even measure how much jealousy I'm feeling. If I wasn't sitting outside on the grass underneath a tree, I'd say I'm seeing green but that's just the grass.

"Ron? I wondered where you had gone," I heard Luna say and settled down on the grass next to me. The thing I loved about her was she didn't really care what she looked like or what people thought of her even after all these years. She was probably going to get a grass stain but she didn't care. "Are you alright?"

"Do I look it?" I snapped. She was my fiancée but at the moment only one person could get me out of this mood and she was now Mrs Harry Potter. Luna shook her head and took my hand in hers. It was amazing that no matter what mood I was in, she would stay by me.

"I know how you feel," she said after we had been sitting there awhile now. I looked down at her wondering if she had lost it. How could she possibly know what I was feeling? She didn't love the bride. "I wish I'd done something about it when I was still in school. That could be me in that dress right now. And you and Hermione would be getting married next year instead of you and me."

I was speechless.

I had never considered that Luna might like Harry but thinking about it, she'd always had. From the quirky presents to being able to help when everyone else couldn't, I was surprised I could be so blind as not to see it. Then again, I had been so blind I hadn't realised I loved Hermione until it was too late.

"Are you just winding me up?"

"If I wanted to wind you up Ron, I would sing the Niffler song over and over again. I'm serious. At least I'm being honest with you. You had all this time to tell me, and you didn't."

I sigh defeated. She was right. I should have been have been honest from the beginning, not just from the beginning of our relationship. All those years ago, I should have told Hermione how I really felt. Not pushed her away by being an idiot and attempting to make her jealous by dating other girls. I should have just told her. Then I wouldn't be here sitting on the slightly wet grass getting both a wet path and a grass stain.

"I'm sorry," is all I manage to say. She nods, and leans on me. I wrap my arm around her.

"You and I have always been so alike. This is another of those things we have in common. Losing the one we really want to be with."

She has a point. Maybe that's why we've been together all this time. No matter what we've done, we've always been able to see it from each other's point of view, very unlike Hermione. Hermione and I could never see eye to eye about most things, but that never stopped me from loving her. I hear her sigh, and shiver slightly. It is getting slightly on the cold side even if it is in the middle of summer and the morning was just the right temperature. I shift for a moment so I can take my jacket off and hand it to her.

"Thanks," she says and pulls it closer to her. For awhile, she just stares up at the sky, watching as the sky begins to turn a purple haze since it's near to sunset, and I know how much she likes sunset. What I don't expect her to do is take my hand and place her engagement ring there.

"Luna?" I ask puzzled. She turns to me, staring with those bright blue eyes of hers, and I watch fall down her face. I move to wipe it away but she stops me.

"You don't love me Ron, and I don't think you'll ever learn to either. You see me as nothing more than a replacement for Hermione, and I think I've finally realised that. I've finally realised that and...and I don't want to make the mistake of marrying a man who doesn't love me."

Luna gets up and I see I was right. She does have a grass stain but it doesn't matter anyway because she asks for Ginny to come and out and I see the two women talking, hoping that Luna is making up some elaborate lie that she's ill. I watch her get into a cab and yet I do nothing to stop her. I just sit there until Ginny comes marching over, and for a split second I'm sure she's going to hex me.

"You are an idiot Ron Weasley and you are going to die a _very lonely_ man."

My sister says nothing else but goes back into the hall to get on celebrating the wedding. I know she's right. I've just lost the only girl who will probably understand me as well as I understand myself. And I don't do anything about it. I just sit outside, watching as the sun sets and the day turns into night. Never mind that it's getting cold and I could catch pneumonia sitting here in my shirt. It's not like anyone would miss me.

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_The Longbottom and Lovegood family invite you to come and witness the union of their eldest children_

_Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood_

_will be joining in holy matrimony on Saturday 23rd August 2000_

I throw the invite in the fire. There is no way I will watch again as another man, one I might have once considered a best friend, marries the girl I realised I wanted. I will let my sister be right about me for once. I will die a lonely man.

It was three months after my split with Luna that I realised I loved her. I was cleaning out our apartment, hoping to move on with my life and I had come across a photograph of us. It had been taken on our first date. Surprisingly we'd gone to a Quidditch match and we've both enjoyed it so much, we wanted to go again. But that's not it that surprised me. It's the fact that she was wearing my Chudley Cannons sweatshirt I must have taken off during the match. She could have just taken it off but instead she chose to wear it. Hermione would have never done that.

All the time I had been moping about losing Hermione, I never realised I was falling in love with Luna Lovegood; the slightly weird Ravenclaw from the year below.

And in true fashion, I hadn't realised until it was too late.

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**_A/N_**- It's been in my head for awhile now and I thought I'd share it with y'all. Reviews would be appreciated but thanks for reading.


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